Lances (VC1)
This article is about the Lances in Valkyria Chronicles. For other uses, see Lances (disambiguation). Lances are the main weapons of the Lancer class. Gallian Anti-tank Lances Circa 1935 'Lancaar' Gallia's most common anti-tank lance, developed as a way to allow foot soldiers to combat tanks unassisted. An armor-penetrating warhead is loaded into the lance's tip, then fired at the target, detonating on impact. Though its power and effectiveness is indisputable, its considerable weight impedes the mobility of the user. The weapon draws its name from its use as a LANCe-shaped Anti-ArmoR device. 'Theimer' The use of a reinforced warhead core contact mechanism yielded gains in both stopping power and trajectory stability in this redesign of the Lancaar model. Wing stabilizers derived from Professor Theimer's work vastly reduced projectile drift, an issue that had forced users of the original series to fire from point-blank range. A greater effective range meant users could keep a safe distance, greatly improving their survival rate. Its effectiveness against Imperial tanks had soldiers calling it "The Tamer." Gallian Mortar Lances Circa 1935 'Lancaar-SH' Developed as an anti-tank lance variant for anti-personnel use, the Lancaar SH uses a mortar-like warhead packed with explosives. Its power, blast radius and effective range all surpass that of a traditional hand grenade. As an anti-personnel weapon, portability was a top priority. The launcher saw a substantial slimming down, making the SH the lightest AT lance so far. That said, it still outweighs a normal firearm, meaning only those used to carry lances can likely wield it. Imperial Lances Circa 1935 'VB PL' This weapon could rightfully be called the grandfather of all anti-tank lances, developed by Von Bismark (VB) under the direction of founder Adolf von Bismark, a leader in explosives research. As the first major power to realize the tank's battle potential, the Empire was also active in developing the means for combating enemy tanks. The designation "PL" comes from the term "Panzer Lance." Captured Strategies *The Lancaar and Theimer lances are effective against enemy tanks and fortifications. They are usually capable of destroying a tank with a few hits to the body or just a single hit to the radiator. Because moving a Lancer only costs one CP, the Lancaar and Theimer are the most cost-effective method for destroying enemy tanks. Although they can be used against enemy infantry, they deal no splash damage and thus require a direct impact in order to deal any damage. Due to their mediocre accuracy, this is generally difficult to achieve outside of close range and is not recommended unless no other units are available to attack with. *The Lancaar-SH series functions more like a low-angle version of a tank mortar. It will deal substantially more damage to infantry, has splash damage slightly greater than a grenade, ignores many cover modifiers such as crouching and lying down in grass and can destroy sandbags and other light cover. It is most useful on maps where there are lots of entrenched enemies that need to be flushed out. Unlike Flamethrowers, they do not require the Lancer to get particularly close to their target, though the slow speed of Lancers means that a Shocktrooper with a Flamethrower can be more versatile. *The VB PL (that is, the two models Squad 7 can actually use) is unusual among Imperial weapons in that it deals lower damage, but has higher accuracy than its Gallian counterpart. The lower damage is not a huge disadvantage against weaker tanks, as a single hit to the radiator will still be sufficient to destroy them. Against enemy boss vehicles, however, the VB PL will be noticeably weaker than the Lancaar or Theimer. Notes *Mortar-Lances can still destroy armoured vehicles if they are fired directly at the radiator. The projectile flies slightly lower than the aiming line, so some correction is required. *In an artbook, an Imperial Mortar Lance can be seen. For reasons unknown, it is never seen in-game. These weapons would later appear as the VB MT series in Valkyria Chronicles 3 and 4''. Trivia *Lances appear to function rather like gigantic rocket-assisted rifle grenades rather than using any kind of recoilless principle: most of the device appears to consist of a long standoff rod to get the rocket as far away from the user's body as possible, along with an ornate blast deflector to force the exhaust gases outwards. It appears to use some kind of small precursor charge to get the warhead off the launcher before the main booster ignites (the flash from this firing is shown in cutscenes in VC1, but not in-game). *The method of holding the lance is by placing the dominant hand on the handle towards the front (which on some models is inside the blast deflector that extends backwards from the front) with the other hand gripping the rear tube/body of the lance. However, Gallian and Imperial designs differ in terms of where the trigger is placed. Gallian lances have their triggers on the rear tube, to be used by the hand placed there squeezing it. Imperial lances have their triggers placed on the front handle itself. *In real life, an "anti-tank lance" existed, in the form of the Pzf. 44 Lanze, developed by Germany after WWII. This, however, resembled the RPG-7 or Panzerfaust-3 more than it did an actual lance. A more literal anti-tank lance known as the ''lunge mine also existed: this was a suicide weapon deployed by Imperial Japan in the latter stages of WW2, and consisted of a long pole with a hollow-charge explosive on the end that was triggered by stabbing the detonator into the target vehicle: if successfully applied, it would inevitably fire the charge's casing backwards at the user with lethal force. There is little evidence these devices were ever employed effectively. Similar devices were employed to similarly little effect against American APCs by the Vietcong during the Vietnam War. *The mortar-lance is more or less a rifle grenade system scaled up to the point it is more like a personal light mortar. Category:Weapons